If you are interested in a school visit can you please read the information at the foot of the page on which days we are available and how far we can travel. Thank You.

The school visits offered by Rent a Peasant are based on the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum topics of the Tudors and Invaders and Settlers, incorporating the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods.

The Peasants are also happy to work with older pupils. The Key Stage 3 National Curriculum Topic Medieval Realms can work particularly well when we meet the school party at a standing monument, such as the Keep in Newcastle upon Tyne (http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/keep). We can also work in conjunction with institutions, such as the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, to complement static displays and presentations by in house educational staff.
We have also presented the Tudors as a topic at secondary school level.

Usually, one or two Peasants as costumed historical interpreters can visit your school for a whole or half day. For the large class sizes of the modern comprehensive, a third Peasant can be booked so the pupils can be split into smaller groups for the activity sessions, in particular.

The Peasants will provide a stimulating insight into everyday living for the period chosen. Objects will be provided for the children to handle. Discussion will be led by question and answer. Hands on activities will be provided. Depending on the period, the activities can include:

• Stripping rushes for rush lights
• Spinning wool with drop spindles
• Lucette braiding
• Writing with quill pens
• Grinding flour on the quern
• Playing with contemporary toys and games

Throughout history, the majority of the population lived and worked in the countryside. The Peasants characters vary through time but always have an agricultural background and talk about everyday life in the past for ordinary people. The session always begins with a range of agricultural implements. This naturally leads on to the uses of these tools, the crops grown, the animals kept and the concept of a largely self sufficient lifestyle.

Our presentation can be tailored to fit your specific National Curriculum requirements. The Peasants can cover aspects contemporary to each period studied of literacy, numeracy, sciences, arts, trade, technology, politics, religion and geography. One successful idea, implemented after a Rent a Peasant visit for an OFSTED inspection, was a wall chart made by the children depicting a cow and all the uses that the Tudor Peasants made of cattle. These included oxen ploughing with drawing of the ox yoke; milk for butter and cheese with drawing of butter churn; the hide for leather with drawing of leather mugs; the horns for spoons, combs, mugs.

After a visit, literacy hour can be used to write thank-you letters to the Peasants. Some examples following from a Tudor day at Mowden Juior School, Darlington can be viewed here. (these are scanned letters and will open in a separate window, just close the window to return)

Some schools also use a visit from Rent a Peasant to generate interest in the local press. Follow the link here to view some press cuttings of school visits. (these are scanned press clippings and will open in a separate window, just close the window to return)

Please contact Louisa Gidney on 01388 731 848 to discuss your requirements.
Please note that this is an evening contact number (about 6pm, when get home after work, and after 8.30pm, after finishing farm work, are good times to find a real person on the end of the line). If you leave a message on the answerphone during school hours, please leave an evening contact number. Louisa is employed part-time at Durham University Monday-Wednesday so school visits can only be arranged for Thursdays and Fridays. If you would like to make contact and receive a response during the school day Mon-Wed, please email peasants@rentapeasant.co.uk.

Our charge is dependent on your class size, number of Peasants required and travelling distance. The Peasants can normally find an option to suit even small schools.

Please, also, bear in mind that school vists are restricted by distance. If you are interested in our approach, but are situated well outside the northern counties of England, you may find a more local service through http://www.classhistory.co.uk